PRESIDENT-ELECT Noynoy Aquino is doing away with the inaugural parade on June 30 when he takes his oath as the 15th president of the Philippines. A first since pre-martial law days, said inaugural spokesperson and historian Manuel Quezon III. An appropriate signal on what to expect during his term, I would say, considering he won on an anti-corruption theme.
Noynoy should give us a clearer picture of what to expect when he unveils members of his new Cabinet, along with what he wants to achieve within the first 100 days in his inaugural speech.
Having rooted for Noynoy during the campaign, I expect him to carry out changes along the lines of curbing excesses that happened during the GMA presidency or even that of Erap. He will try his best to live up to the ideals his father Ninoy espoused.
The obstacles to this are rather daunting, however. I hope Noynoy realizes that among these obstacles are certain people he considered as allies and whose support he needed during the campaign to win. We know politics in the Philippines is intrinsically intertwined with patronage and corruption.
Many corrupt politicians supported Noynoy because they believe he would win and it is bad politics to be identified with losers.
When Noynoy starts his work, these people will try to frustrate from the inside basic changes the Filipino people expect him to carry out.
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Nevertheless, talk of Noynoy most likely appointing Guillermo Paray-no, a former customs and BIR commissioner and a member of the Hyatt 10, is good news. Having introduced computerization to the customs bureau during his stint under the watch of President Fidel Ramos, Parayno improved efficiency in the facilitation of imports and reduced corruption. Under PGMA, BIR Commissioner Parayno showed he had balls in upholding his principles when he joined the Hyatt 10. Noynoy cannot go wrong with appointing Parayno.
Having been with both customs and BIR and now with interests in the private sector, however, there are doubts whether Parayno will accept another term as customs commissioner. He deserves to be finance boss. And he needs to divest his stable business interests in favor of a controversial government position.
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But whoever he appoints at the customs front, the Filipino people will be happy if Noynoy does away with the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group (PASG) that President Arroyo initially formed as a unit personally loyal to her and tasked with breaking up a smuggling syndicate believed to be operated by a woman rumored as her husband's mistress. Remember the destruction of smuggled luxury cars in Subic way back in 2004?
The series of PASG operations then served as a public relations effort to give GMA an image of being serious in her anti-smuggling drive. But soon, PASG became a tool for extortion of even legitimate importers, even as it duplicates the legitimate job of the customs police and intelligence service. Today, PASG is said to rake in the largest share from goodwill money for legitimate importations.
Removing PASG during his first 100 days will be a concrete step in Noynoy's drive to curb corruption and effect reforms at the ports.
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Talking about the ports, notice how traffic has worsened in the vicinity of SM City? This is because the local port authority decided to destroy the concrete roads in the port area on the way to the customs office at several junctions, simultaneously, for another round of repairs. Considering the traffic the project created, I don't think there was prior coordination with local traffic authorities. Another thing, these roads underwent major repairs during the Asean summit preparations a few years back. Why destroy the concrete roads after a few years then repair these again? While the coming administration wants to save government money by doing away with the traditional inaugural parade, the local port authority is wasting funds on repairing good roads.
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The second anniversary of mv Princess of the Stars tragedy today should make us reflect on the safety of sea travel. News of ships running aground off Mactan recently is definitely not encouraging. When can we replace our floating coffins with world-class vessels we Filipinos can be proud of?
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